Over the summer we installed hardwood flooring – which needs constant sweeping and cleaning . What to do… What to do… Well, most of us would just sweep it, right? Some of us might even go buy a Roomba. But, then again, some of us build something to do it for them. Why? Because we can… Pulito (Italian for ‘clean’) is simply put, a sweeper robot. Much like a Swiffer and Roomba combined. The...

Sometimes I build robots that attempt to solve real world challenges. Other times, robots are built based on random ideas. This robot is a case of solving a LEGO challenge – specifically, with their Technic tracks/treads #575518. At no fault of theirs, these plastic tracks are slippery on many surfaces. Great for carpets, flat areas, dirt (if you dare) – and great for turning as well. However, when you try to climb with them,...

What better way to test a colour sensor then to create a brick sorting robot! After getting my hands on a HiTechnic colour sensor, I first took a stab at creating a robot that could navigate a room and detect colour. There was only one problem, it could not really do what I was hoping for. I was nieve in thinking that I could build this robot and it could detect colours from a...

April 2007: Your first question is probably “what does UNV stand for?”. Well, its nothing special – I simply could not come up with a name for it, so what better way to tag it then simply unnamed vehicle. After receiving a bunch of the new tread links, I wanted to create something grand with them. Scouting the web, I came across these multi-purpose robots (see below) that can be outfitted for police /...

After I had success with my challenge to build a 1″x1″x1″ NanoBot, I wanted to try my luck at something a little larger. MicroBot measures approx 2″x2″″ and uses the same Atmel microcontroller and battery (see N anoBot details). The body was custom made from a larger piece of 4mm white PVC. MicroBot gets its’ senses from 3 front mounted ProxDots (IR units) and a bottom mounted IR unit (for line following). This gives...

While waiting for the NXT system to come out, I decided to try my luck at making tiny robots. While Googling, I stumbled across a Yahoo newsgroup for NanoBots based on the MegaBitty controller. I have always been interested in making compact Lego robots, but for obvious reasons, they can only be so small. So, I decided to try my luck and NanoBots. Although I am not sure of the exact definition of a...

This page is dedicated to the further enhancements that I have done to DominoBotNXT. For more info on the original DominoBotNXT, have a look here. One of the drawbacks of the original was that due to the 3 motor limit, it had to backup to properly place dominos. This was because the domino-placing component was tied directly to the drive wheels. So, as it drove forward, a domino would make its way to being...

Climber – One day while browsing the LEGO Mindstorms site, I noticed some pictures about a show in Germany. LEGO had built 2 cool wall climbing robots to help market the product. I was amazed at the design and capabilities that they had and wanted to find out just how hard it would be to build something like this and have it actually work. It was quite a challenge. Building the components was the...

DominoBot 2 was my take on re-creating my original DominoBot. After I had finished the original, I found ways to make it more efficient and better at what the original did. I also did not have the limitations of the parts supplied with the RIS and UBS sets. One of the parts that needed re-designing was the mechanism used to force domino’s out of the chamber. The original tended to have difficulties at times....

Wall Follower was one of those “proof-of-concepts” robots. The intent was to build something small and compact that was fast and versatile. Wall Follower can navigate around a room, on a table, in a maze, whatever. It is built from one of the basic robot platforms in the Mindstorms Contructopedia. Motion is done by 2 motors, each of which can steer by removing power to one. The main sensor is the DIRPD sensor (grey)...